What was the thinking with the gravel? That was your walkway?

I didn’t put it there, it came with the house and is just alongside the driveway so I have no clue. It’s mostly grown out with grass now. The walkway it’s currently a brick walkway but it’s small

The white trim looks nice with the blue-gray exterior. I'd remove the decorative item near the garage (under one of the garage lights), neaten up the window box planter, remove the square rock near the chimney base, dig up the iris (?) plants and have only the shrub(s) there, trim the right side shrub. Add a small white chair to repeat the trim near the front door (child's chair?) and remove the plant that is there. The plant is too dark. After that, you might be done. The landscaping looks OK. Keep everythig neat and tidy with your front door area the only focal point.

If the pebble walkway will stay then consider adding a 3" edger down the right side of it for a clean line, and then get some rectangle walkway tiles to make a nicer path to the entryway. Consider making the flowerbed deeper to meet up with the entryway walkway, and add a couple nice flowering shrubs (small), and a nice colorful pot in place of the plant blocking the porch. Paint front door and storm door a different happy complimentary color. Congrats on the new home, it's quite charming!

The entryway is already somewhat obscured by the garage and the planting in front of the door further obscures the entryway. I'd remove those plants and replace with either lawn or very low groundcover.

Very cute house..

I think you should restructure the walkway to invite you through a moving path. I know you said modernize and make it clean. This would add movement and your guests coming to the front door would walk around.

This is what I mean...

Have you guests enter by going around something. Remove the long gravel you have.

Or this.

Interlocking Pavers · More Info

or this..

Complete Landscape Remodel · More Info

Having your guests enter your home by moving around something will be more inviting and draw the eye away from the garage.

Brick Paver Walkways · More Info

The path doesn't actually lead to the front door. It goes to a blank bit of garage wall and then you have to step round to the door. I would move the whole thing over so it goes straight to the entrance, not around a curve, but directly to the door.

The issue is that the blacktop driveway and the garage dominate your home. It looks like it's a two-car garage too. The rest of the house is cute but it disappears. You need to give the house more prominence.

Long-term solutions to create a balance between house and garage:

1. Replace the driveway. Here they use cement so it's not as harsh. Your driveway is road material.

2. Replace the garage door with one with windows that repeat the window style on the house. When the garage dominates, use a nicer door.

3. Explore creating a deck/porch that extends from the corner of the garage to the corner of the house. Your front steps would be part of the decking. The deck would be wider at the window to provide space for porch chairs and potted plants.

Here's the basic idea.

Contemporary Front Porch · More Info

Do you know your planting zone?

and what is your budget?

Your house will look more inviting if the eye is drawn to the front door and the pathway to it. Lots of different small ways this can be accomplished without a big expense.

Make the left side of the house as boring as possible, nothing to look at. Paint the garage door and its trim to match the siding. Paint all the downspouts the same colour as the siding. Remove the big pot on the left side of the house, and remove the decor item on the right side of the garage door.

Your garage lights are not in proportion to the size of the garage doors. I suggest white lantern style, but be sure they are large enough.

The brick walkway should be completely visible from the street. Remove all landscaping in front of it.

Add larger house numbers and remove the decor item to the right of the front door. Leave the entrance area clear of any pots etc.

As far as landscaping, we don't know your closest big city so hard to recommend specific plants. But you need something solid and evergreen all the way across the house to visually connect the house to the lawn, in all seasons. You shouldn't be able to see where the house meets the ground. It will also "bulk up" the right side of your house to provide better balance to the larger more-forward garage side. Be sure you choose something suitable for the number of hours of light it will get, and something where the mature size is not too tall. You don't want to be constantly pruning, and a naturally shaped shrub is always more attractive. Something taller at the right corner of the house will look good to soften the edge of the house.

That little rock-edged bed along the front of your house is much too narrow. Plant shrubs that will be about 4 feet wide and tall at maturity, and plant them 3 feet from your house so that when they are mature they don't touch your siding. It will look weird at first so fill in with tall annuals in between, until they are larger.

I removed your iris. Very pretty flowers for the 2 weeks that they bloom, then boring the rest of the year, and weird looking visible roots in the winter. Not something for that spot. They also need to be divided regularly or they stop flowering altogether. Move them to the back of the house or gift them to a gardening enthusiast who will put them in a large bed of mixed perennials.

I gave you a 18" row of white annuals in front of your shrubs. Whatever grows well in your area, and will give you flowers from spring to fall. Alyssum is good where I live. Your new bed should be one nice curve, not a series of wobbly curves you make with a hose. How deep? Your small new shrubs will be planted 3 feet from the house, and you want an 18" row of annuals in front of them, so your bed needs to be about 5 feet deep. As your shrubs grow you may want to widen it a bit, so just edge it cleanly with a spade once or twice a year, and don't put in a permanent edging.

I removed your window box. I am an avid gardener and window boxes are a total pain. They take a lot of watering and fertilizing, and even then the plants usually look thin and weak in a short time, and need to be replaced with fresh ones. An expensive proposition. There just isn't enough room in them for healthy roots. They will also, over time, likely damage your siding from water, sometimes with soil mixed in.

Your stone walkway probably never gets walked on. If it were my new house, I'd remove it altogether and grass it, because there are probably things on your house that will give you a bigger bang for your buck than a new walkway. Replace it with a more attractive and wider surface. as funds allow and if you like the look. Don't landscape along the driveway or in front of the brick walkway.

Cute house.

Thank you everyone!! I’ve added a better view of my entrance/walkway for those confused by the rocks on the sides of the driveway(which I want to get rid of eventually)

I wish I had enough space to create a porch of some sort or just a bigger entrance but I just can’t envision how that would be possible..

Just like you would a backyard deck. Build it right over the existing concrete steps. It wouldn't be a covered porch but an open deck. You'd need one step up and you could have a step off the side with a path that runs along the side of the house.

I remember this house! 4 years ago in your post we gave you nice ideas. Now you are here again with the same question. Nothing done?

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5908727/need-help-with-a-modern-twist-to-exterior-snout-house

Haha yes!! We still use those visuals as our goals. Unfortunately we had some health issues that set us back a bit as well as needing a new furnace/chimney/water heater and then have focused on some of the interior renovations over the winters. I love the ideas you have, now just looking how I can change the entrance/walkway to my door/landscape walking up to the door not the house or driveway. Thanks!!

I would go with wider flower bed to make entrance more open and inviting.

I read your other thread too.

If you replaced that driveway with an attractive one, you wouldn't have to do much of anything else except replace the foundation plants along the bump-out. That bed also needs to be at least double the depth it is now.

I would make a landing even with the door threshold and bring it out to the front of the garage and add the steps up there. it will make the door area less crowded and more welcoming.